http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/ ... gb.01.html --

First, a state government in Mexico is reportedly intending to hand out portable GPS devices to illegal immigrants this year to help them arrive safely in the United States. I`m not kidding you.

Apparently, the main illegal entry route into Arizona -- hey, wait a minute, there`s Arizona again -- is actually so tough to navigate that the Mexican government feels they need a little satellite help to get there.

The state of Pueblo expects 200,000 people to take the devices this year alone. And once they navigate their way here by turn-by-turn directions, some of them will end up buying fake Social Security cards and IDs and then using it to get a job here.

Now, in the course of that job, those illegal workers will pay Social Security taxes, just like the rest of us, even though they have fake accounts. But here`s where things get really insane: After breaking into the country, using fake documents to get work, an illegal may soon be able to actually claim those Social Security benefits.

A new agreement, if signed by the president, would allow an illegal alien who subsequently becomes legal to claim benefits for the work they did prior to becoming a citizen. Put it another way: We`ll ignore how you got here, how you got your job, the fact that you, you know, went and bought illegal documents, as long as you do the right thing later. Are you outraged yet?

Well, try this on for size. What if I told you that, while most Americans, you and me, we need 10 years of work to qualify for benefits for Social Security, Mexicans will qualify within as little as 18 months of work. Now, are you getting that rage back?

I hope so, because our leaders once again have proven that the only way this insanity will end is through the will of the people. Steve Camarota, he is the director of research in the Center for Immigration Studies.

What is this bill?

STEVE CAMAROTA, CENTER OF IMMIGRATION STUDIES: Well, what it`s called is the Totalization Agreement. It was negotiated with the State Department and Mexico. And what it basically does is it gives people credit towards collecting Social Security for work they do in Mexico and in the United States.

So, if you worked in Mexico, say, for eight years and then came to the United States and worked for two years, you could collect U.S. Social Security benefits. And you`d want to, because our system is so much more generous than theirs.

BECK: I mean, I can`t -- I mean, I just can`t even begin to understand this. I`ve got to work for 10 years. You can qualify for as little as 18 months. I mean, this is handing candy out on the border, is it not?

CAMAROTA: Yes, now, basically we do have these agreements with other advanced industrialized democracies that cover a small number of people in which both programs are, you know, roughly comparable, quite generous.

Mexico`s social security system doesn`t cover most of their workers; only about 40 percent are actually covered. And it doesn`t give you very much when you retire. So you really -- what you want to do is get a few years in the U.S. of working so that you can file under the U.S. system, because it gives you so much more and it gives it to you in perpetuity.

BECK: This is a subsidy for Mexico; that`s all this is. I mean, why wouldn`t you come over the border in the middle of the night and work 18 months and be able to move back to Mexico and have our benefits here? It`s not like Belgium. I believe we have like 300 people that we`re doing this with, because you did mention that we have other treaties. There`s like 300 people. How many people are we talking about with Mexico?

CAMAROTA: Well, obviously, it covers an enormous number of people. There are probably about 6 million, say, roughly speaking, Mexican nationals working in the United States. About half of them are here illegally, roughly speaking. So we`re talking millions of people. And we`re also talking very low-wage workers.

So it`s kind of a threat to the whole Social Security system, because you`re adding a whole lot of poor people who don`t pay a lot in Social Security taxes to the system.

BECK: This is insanity. You know, I just saw a number -- and tell me if this number is right, if you even have it -- I just saw a number on, in 2004, what we paid illegal aliens in tax refunds, 2004. Do you know this number?

CAMAROTA: Yes, I believe -- the figure I`ve heard is about $10 billion. That`s based on estimates that the Treasury Department has done itself, $10 billion they paid back to illegal aliens.

BECK: That is insane. We`re paying them $10 billion, and we can`t arrest them, we can`t even find them, we don`t even know -- $10 billion? And now we`re giving them Social Security, one that we don`t need another country to sabotage for us. We`re doing it ourselves. The whole thing is going to collapse.

CAMAROTA: Yes, and what`s worse than that is, that the IRS issues them tax I.D. numbers so that they can then file their income tax with their false Social Security numbers so that we can give them their $10 billion back.

BECK: OK, all right. So the last thing here -- let me just role play here for a second. I`m an illegal alien. I have to now go to the government and prove to the government that I have a fake I.D., that I bought a fake Social Security card on the street in the black market, and then the government rewards me for that, right?

CAMAROTA: Yes, in effect, sure. Once you get legal status, then you apply for the credits that you earned while you were an illegal alien. And the way you do that is like you said: You show your false documents. You bring out your bogus tax returns, and so forth.

BECK: I`ve got to tell you, Steve, the whole world is upside down. There are times I don`t even begin to understand it. Thanks so much.